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Indians Try And Bounce Back After Loss.

(Sports Network) - The Cincinnati Reds enter game two of the weekend in first place as they host the Ohio-rival Cleveland Indians tonight at Great American Ball Park.

The Reds won Friday's opener, 10-3, and skipped past the St. Louis Cardinals into the top spot in the National League's Central Division after heading into the series a half-game out.

Drew Stubbs homered and drove in four runs for the Reds, while Scott Rolen added a home run and drove in two runs. Jay Bruce went 2-for-2 with two doubles, an RBI and three runs scored.

Cincinnati has won four straight.

Joey Votto extended his streak of reaching base safely to 33 games with two walks -- the longest such stretch in baseball this season.

Aaron Harang (6-7) was the beneficiary of the run support, allowing three runs, eight hits and five walks in seven innings.

Carlos Santana hit a two-run homer for Cleveland, but left the game following the hit with a left thumb bruise. Jhonny Peralta also homered, as the Indians fell for the 10th time in 11 games.

Aaron Laffey (0-2) struggled in his first start of the season. Taking over for the struggling David Huff, Laffey yielded five runs, five hits and three walks in only four frames to take the loss.

The win was Cincinnati's 20th in 34 interleague games with the Indians since 2005. The Reds began the 2010 rivalry by winning two of three at Cleveland in May.

Rookie right-hander Sam LeCure takes part in the series for the first time and seeks to end a four-start skid since a winning debut.

The 26-year-old downed Houston in his big-league unveiling on May 28, but has dropped subsequent decisions to St. Louis, San Francisco, Kansas City and Seattle while seeing his earned run average swell from 3.00 to 4.50.

In 30 innings in the majors, LeCure has given up 31 hits and 15 runs.

He is 1-2 at home with a 3.38 ERA in 18 2/3 innings.

For the Indians, Justin Masterson faces the Reds for the second time in his career.

He's won two of his last three decisions and has dropped his ERA from 6.13 to 4.87 over his last five outings, including wins over the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox earlier this month.

He got a no-decision on June 20 at Pittsburgh after allowing five hits and two runs in six innings of a game the Indians lost, 5-3.

Masterson is 1-3 in seven road starts in 2010.

Tonight's start is the 40th of his big-league career.

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.